I have noticed in my local library that some children’s books, advertised as Dyslexia Friendly, also advertise themselves as having been tested by children.
This attitude to children is very common these days i.e. children are given responsibilities and required to make judgments that ought, in a healthy society, to be the sole responsibility of adults. Publishers are at it, schools are at it….the list is endless. This is extremely bad news.
In a healthy society, children learn by being apprenticed to adults. (This is how young animals learn, after all.) To burden children with the responsibilities of adults is to cause them severe psychological damage. This is child abuse. And it is not just a few “dirty old men” that are at it - every adult in our society is at it.
I like to imagine a room full of full grown men and women somewhere playing with baby toys and relieving themselves in tiny diapers to test the products before they are released for public consumption. And anyone ballsy enough to ask why the products aren’t being tested on infants is met with scorn and haughty derision.
I like the OP’s idea that the children are held responsible for their verdicts.
I can see a four-year-old in a collar shirt and tie, hammering the desk of a howling toddler, saying “Damn it, Timmy! You said this book was funny! This is your last fuck-up here, you’re fired.” A sort of Bugsy Malone meets Glengarry Glen Ross. Just me? Never mind, then.
Right, now, I’m going to help you here. After my next post, I’m going to write a list of questions and I will assess your comprehension. My advice if you want to get good marks, is to read at least 3 times (first fast, second more slowly, third slowly). (Anyone suffering from ADHD take a course on focussed meditation first.)
As a dyslexic, I wish they had those books when I was a kid. I would have happily been a tester. Tested by kids simply means known dyslexic kids were given the books to read , then were asked questions about what the book was about. A simple book report. They were given normal texted books with the same story. Then asked same questions. Which book was easier to read and comprehend.
Kids have to be volunteers with parental consent Its not any burden on the kids. There is no responsibility in fact in many cases that you describe the child actually benefits.
The EASY way to test whether a book is suitable for dyslexic children is to put it on the shelf and see if dyslexic children read it. All the hype about being thoroughly tested by dyslexics and being suitable for dyslexics is merely advertising. That is the truth of it. It is a subtle way of getting the books sold. (I suspect that the publisher is hoping that his books will become recognised by the dyslexic who will just then reach for them and ignore all else. But it also creates a false sense of security - a well known advertisers’ ploy.) And if you think a publisher would go to the trouble of testing a product for any other motive than to shift more products and raise profits then you are naive indeed.
One should heed the old adage: a good product sells itself. Therefore when you see encouragements or persuasions of any sort on a product, then know that you are being manipulated.
Lets see if I have this right, A writer writes books so that specific people can comprehend the story and never tests the formula. The publisher says hey thats fine I will spend thousands of dollars and try to make my investment back before complaints hit and I have to reimburse for false advertising and faulty product. Pay court costs and fines. I am prepared to lose my shirt on such a stupid lie when it would be easier and profitable to actually test the formula.
By golly you are right they lied cuz they want to lose money.
The issue is child abuse. If testing books on children is, as I contend, child abuse, then there is no argument that can be put forward, no threat of court cases, of financial loss, or whatever, that can justify the practice. You will just have to do without the product if push comes to shove.
I said a “good” product sells itself. The publisher might try being honest. He might try selling a book which he thinks is a good book and allowing the public to buy or not. If it is a good book, the first person to buy it will recommend it to friends, and that starts the snowball rolling. If he thinks the book is suitable for dyslexic children, he can advertise it as (I mean just a blurb on the cover, not the high pressure advertising) he “thinks” it may be suitable for dyslexic children, but it has not been tested. In other words, honesty can get you a long way in avoiding law suits. he might even boast that it has not been tested on children and make that a selling point! (I’m thinking of the Not Tested On Animals which was found to be a profitable selling point.)
How do you know that the children were forced into having responsibilities and making judgements? How do you know it wasn’t a completely voluntary situation? Maybe they were asked, ‘Would you like to read this with me?’ and they wanted to, and then they did, and then they were asked ‘What do you think of it?’ and they answered.
Doesn’t seem abusive to me. Seems like something that would and should be happening in every household with children when it’s described like that.
